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Keeping It Tight in the Old Dominion: A History of Virginia Rock Music

is released by author Pete Crigler

Chronicling the history of rock music in Virginia from the 1950s to the 21st century was a labor of love for author Pete Crigler, who has been a fan of music from an early age. The book tells the story of the state’s links to rock, from the genre’s early days to the rockabilly of Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps from Norfolk to the punk band Cloak/Dagger and Conditions in the 21st century. More than 80 photographs – including some from the musicians’ own collections – and interviews add depth to this chronicle of rockers, both obscure and well known.

Keeping It Tight in the Old Dominion showcases rockers from all eras. For instance, Gary “U.S.” Bonds began making waves in Norfolk by the end of 1960, and his song “Quarter to Three” still is known as one of the great party songs of all time. Another success story, from Virginia Beach this time, is Bill Deal and the Rhondels, who are forever tied to surf/beach music. In the 1970s, Arlington-based Pentagram, a hard rock/metal band, took the underground world by storm, with reports that Kiss band members inquired about buying a song. A decade later, a pianist and his band from Williamsburg, Bruce Hornsby and the Range, put out an impressive string of hits. Current rock and rollers from Virginia include GWAR, Dave Matthews Band, Jason Mraz and Cracker.

The book’s focus is clearly on the music, and its detailed descriptions provide a lesson on rock and roll history that won’t be soon forgotten.

This book has been a complete labor of love for its author; starting in July of 2007 and working until October of 2009, Pete Crigler has been consistently working putting together what he hopes is the definitive tale of rock music in Virginia. The book tells the history of rock music in Virginia from the 1950s and the rockabilly of Gene Vincent to the punk energy of Cloak/Dagger and Conditions in the 21st century and everything in between. The book’s approach is done with interviews with over sixty musicians from the fifties to the current time, complete with over 80 b&w and color photos submitted by many of the same musicians. This story needs to be told because no one has ever tried anything like it before. Being so informative of music, it has been this author’s dream to tell this story because of an easy camaraderie with the musicians.

With a word count just under 50,000 there is plenty of information to envelop a reader and pull them in while also leaving them wanting more. This book has been quite an undertaking and while it’s the completion of a long-time goal for the author, it will also be something that any one interested in pop culture will enjoy reading for the many different anecdotes told throughout. Also, many of the musicians have been more than eager to help out in any way possible and they’ve delivered in spades and anybody who’s been interested in these artists will hopefully find a treasure trove of information within the book and they may be turned onto musicians they’d never been interested in before. The stories of many musicians, some of whom have not been interviewed about their music careers in over twenty years will be interesting to people who don’t even care about the music and that’s part of this book’s charm is it’s ability to pull in any type of reader.

By looking at the varied styles of rock and roll that have been given to the world by Virginia musicians including rockabilly, sludge rock, hardcore and emo just some of the many genres Virginia musicians have dabbled in, they will be able to see just how diverse the state has been over the last half-century. Also, many musicians, both up-and-coming and famous will be interested in reading about similar sounding bands and would be fascinated with the stories that are contained within. By talking to as many musicians, scenemakers and friends as possible, this book is as definitive a story as ever been told.